English

Solar Cycle Related Changes at the Base of the Convection Zone

Astrophysics 2009-11-13 v1

Abstract

The frequencies of solar oscillations are known to change with solar activity. We use Principal Component Analysis to examine these changes with high precision. In addition to the well-documented changes in solar normal mode oscillations with activity as a function of frequency, which originate in the surface layers of the Sun, we find a small but statistically significant change in frequencies with an origin at and below the base of the convection zone. We find that at r=(0.712^{+0.0097}_{-0.0029})R_sun, the change in sound speed is \delta c^2 / c^2 = (7.23 +/- 2.08) x 10^{-5} between high and low activity. This change is very tightly correlated with solar activity. In addition, we use the splitting coefficients to examine the latitudinal structure of these changes. We find changes in sound speed correlated with surface activity for r >~ 0.9R_sun.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0807.0442,
  title  = {Solar Cycle Related Changes at the Base of the Convection Zone},
  author = {Charles S. Baldner and Sarbani Basu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0807.0442},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

29 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

R2 v1 2026-06-21T10:56:57.558Z